1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display panel, and more particularly, to a method for forming an electrode in a plasma display panel and a structure thereof.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally, a plasma display panel of three-electrode area discharge type is formed in such a manner that an upper substrate 10 and a lower substrate are opposite to each other so as to be adhered to each other, as shown in FIG. 1a. FIG. 1b shows a sectional structure of the plasma display panel of FIG. 1a, in which the lower substrate 20 is rotated by 90xc2x0.
The upper substrate 10 includes a sustain electrode, a dielectric layer 11 deposited on the sustain electrode, and a passivation layer 12 deposited on the dielectric layer 11. The lower substrate 20 includes an address electrode 22, an isolation wall 23 formed between the respective address electrodes 22, a lower dielectric layer 21 deposited on the address electrode 22, and a phosphor 24 formed on the lower dielectric layer 21. An inert gas is introduced into a space between the upper substrate 10 and the lower substrate 20, and such a space serves as a discharge area.
In order to increase light transmittivity of a discharge cell, as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, the sustain electrode includes a transparent electrode 16 and a metal electrode 17. FIG. 2a is a plane view of the sustain electrode, and FIG. 2b is a sectional view of the sustain electrode. A discharge voltage from a driving integrated circuit (IC) which is mounted outside is applied to the metal electrode 17. The discharge voltage applied to the metal electrode 17 is transmitted to the transparent electrode 16. Thus, discharge occurs between adjacent transparent electrodes 16.
The sustain electrode has a width of about 300 xcexcm. The transparent electrode 16 is made of indium oxide or tin oxide, and the metal electrode 17 is made of a three-layered thin film of Crxe2x80x94Cuxe2x80x94Cr. The metal electrode has a line width in the range of one third of the transparent electrode. The transparent electrode 16 has high resistance and is opaque, so that high transmittivity and low resistance can be maintained at a certain level.
The sustain electrode consisting of the transparent electrode 16 and the metal electrode 17 has a sectional structure that the metal electrode 17 is formed on the transparent electrode 16 as shown in FIG. 3.
A method for forming the sustain electrode shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4a and 4b. 
As shown in FIG. 4a, the transparent electrode 16 is formed on the transparent substrate 10. The transparent electrode 16 has excellent adhesive property to glass while the metal electrode 17 has poor adhesive property to glass. Therefore, in a related art method for fabricating a plasma display panel, the transparent electrode 16 is deposited on glass.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 4b, Cr, Cu and Cr are deposited on the transparent electrode 16 and then patterned to form the metal electrode 17. The three-layered metal electrode 17 is formed by sputtering process under the vacuum. Cu has low resistance but is not likely to be deposited on the transparent electrode. On the other hand, Cr is likely to be deposited on the transparent electrode. In this respect, Cr is deposited on the transparent electrode and then Cu is deposited on Cr. Also, since Cu is easily oxidized if it is exposed outside, a separate passivation layer is required. For passivation of Cu, Cr is again deposited on Cu.
If the dielectric layer 11 and the passivation layer 12 are deposited on the transparent electrode 16 and the three-layered metal electrode, the sustain electrode is completed on the upper substrate 10 of the plasma display panel as shown in FIG. 3.
The related art sustain electrode has several problems.
Since the related art sustain electrode is formed by vacuum process such as sputtering, fabrication cost is high and the process steps become complicated. Also, bubbles occur in the dielectric layer 11 by reaction with the metal electrode 17 (particularly, Cu), thereby destroying insulating state and causing unstable operation of the plasma display panel. Moreover, in view of the fact that the three-layered metal electrode 17 of Crxe2x80x94Cuxe2x80x94Cr is formed on the transparent electrode 16, if Cu is thickly formed to lower resistance, step coverage is deteriorated.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method for forming an electrode in a plasma display panel and a structure thereof that substantially obviate one or more of the problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming an electrode in a plasma display panel and a structure thereof, which improve adhesive property of a metal electrode by forming a metal oxide layer on a glass substrate and chemical plating the metal electrode on the metal oxide layer, and reduce the fabrication cost.
Other object of the present invention is to provide a method for forming an electrode in a plasma display panel and a structure thereof, which simplify fabrication steps of a metal electrode and a transparent electrode and prevent bubbles from being generated due to reaction between the metal electrode and a dielectric layer, so as to form a plasma display panel of which operation is stable.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, a method for a sustain electrode of a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes the steps of forming a metal oxide layer on a transparent substrate in a predetermined pattern, etching a surface of the metal oxide layer to form an uneven portion, and chemical plating a surface of the uneven portion to form a metal electrode.
In another aspect, a sustain electrode of a plasma display panel according to the present invention includes a metal oxide layer formed on a transparent substrate, a metal electrode formed on the metal oxide layer in the same pattern, and a transparent electrode formed on the transparent substrate to be deposited on the metal electrode.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.